Word formation in Portuguese: prefixes and suffixes
A vocabulary grows in two ways. One is learning new words — that is the slow one. The other is the 29 building blocks on this page: with one word and a few of them, you have a whole family.
The suffixes matter more than the prefixes, for a reason you rarely read: they tell you the part of speech. With them you can place an unknown word in its sentence before you know what it means.
Prefixes that negate
Three prefixes for “not” — and one that undoes something.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| in- | not; English in-, im-, il-, ir-, and often un- | incerto, inútil, infeliz, incapaz |
| Before b and p it becomes im-, as in English: impossível, impaciente. Before l the n simply drops, and Portuguese writes one l where English writes two: ilegal. Several English un- words take in- here — infeliz is « unhappy », incerto « uncertain ». | ||
| des- | undoes or reverses; English un-, dis- | desfazer, desarrumar, desligar, desonesto |
| The one prefix on this page you can use freely: it goes in front of almost any verb, and people understand the result even when no dictionary lists it. Two things to notice: desligar is « to switch off », because ligar is « to switch on » (and « to ring someone »); and the silent h of honesto disappears inside the word — desonesto. | ||
| a- | without, not; English a- | atípico, anormal, apolítico, assimétrico |
| Greek in origin, so mostly found in formal and technical words, much as in English. Before a vowel it is an-: anormal. Before an s the s is doubled, because a single s between vowels would be said like a z: assimétrico. | ||
| anti- | against; English anti- | antipático, antibiótico, antivírus, anticorpo |
| Antipático is the everyday word for « unfriendly » or « unpleasant », and it is the opposite of simpático, which means « nice, friendly » and not « sympathetic ». Seeing the pair once is worth more than learning either word on its own. | ||
Prefixes that add something
Again, before, over, under, between, together.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| re- | again; English re- | refazer, reler, rever, repetir |
| As productive as its English twin, and the meaning hardly ever changes. Rever is « to see again » as well as « to look over, revise ». | ||
| pre- | before; English pre- | prever, preparar, prevenir, prefácio |
| Where the prefix keeps its own stress it takes an accent and a hyphen: pré-histórico, pré-pago. Where it has grown into the word it has neither: prever, preparar. | ||
| sobre- | over, on top, more than needed; English over-, sur- | sobremesa, sobreviver, sobrecarga, sobretudo |
| Sobremesa is built from sobre and mesa, « table »: what comes to the table after the meal. Sobretudo means « above all » and, as a noun, « overcoat ». | ||
| sub- | under, below; English sub-, under- | sublinhar, submarino, subsolo, subtítulo |
| English builds sublinhar with under- and Portuguese with sub-: « underline ». Subsolo is the ground under the surface, and in a building the basement levels. | ||
| entre- | between, half; English inter-, half- | entreaberto, entrever, entretanto, entrelinhas |
| The « half » meaning is the one English lacks: entreaberto is « half open », entrever « to glimpse ». Ler nas entrelinhas is exactly « to read between the lines ». | ||
| con- | together with; English con-, co- | conviver, conjunto, convidar, concidadão |
| It often appears as co-: cooperar, colega. Conviver is to live alongside other people and get on with them — English needs a whole phrase for it. | ||
Suffixes that make nouns
From a verb or an adjective to a person, an action, a shop, a quality — and, very often, a fixed gender.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -dor | the person who does it; English -er, -or | trabalhador, comprador, morador, vendedor |
| The feminine is -dora: a trabalhadora. The vowel in front comes from the verb: -ar gives -ador, -er gives -edor, -ir gives -idor. | ||
| -ção | the action as a thing; English -tion | informação, arrumação, formação, explicação |
| Almost every English -tion word has a Portuguese twin in -ção, and all of them are feminine: a informação. The plural is -ções. Unlike « information », informação is an ordinary noun with a plural, and as informações is common. | ||
| -agem | the process; English -age | lavagem, passagem, aterragem, garagem |
| Always feminine, which the ending does not suggest: a garagem, a viagem, a mensagem. Passagem is a passage and also a ticket for a journey. | ||
| -eiro | the person whose trade it is; English -er | cozinheiro, jardineiro, livreiro, engenheiro |
| The feminine is -eira: a cozinheira. The same ending also names the tree a fruit grows on — a laranjeira is the orange tree. Livreiro is a bookseller, not a librarian. | ||
| -aria | the shop that sells it; English -ery, -’s | livraria, papelaria, sapataria, mercearia |
| The classic trap: a livraria is a bookshop, and the library is a biblioteca. The two shops you need most do not follow the pattern: a padaria for bread, a farmácia for medicine. | ||
| -mento | the result of the action; English -ment | pagamento, conhecimento, casamento, estacionamento |
| Always masculine: o pagamento. -ar verbs give -amento, -er and -ir verbs -imento. Not every English match is obvious: casamento is a wedding or a marriage, estacionamento is parking. | ||
| -ista | who does it as a job or holds it as a view; English -ist | dentista, jornalista, motorista, artista |
| The ending stays the same for both sexes; only the article changes: o dentista, a dentista. Motorista is a driver by trade — a bus or lorry driver, a chauffeur — not any « motorist ». | ||
| -eza | the quality as a thing; English -ness | limpeza, grandeza, tristeza, riqueza |
| Always feminine. Limpeza is the act of cleaning as much as the state of being clean, which is why it turns up on every hotel door. | ||
| -dade | the quality as a thing; English -ity | novidade, felicidade, velocidade, curiosidade |
| The English -ity word is often the formal one, and the Portuguese is the everyday one: felicidade is « happiness », velocidade « speed ». Always feminine: a cidade, a idade, a verdade. | ||
| -ada | a single action, or as much as it holds; English -ful | chegada, entrada, colherada, dentada |
| Two meanings in one ending. From a verb it makes the action (a chegada, the arrival); from an object it makes the amount it holds or a blow with it — uma colherada is a spoonful, uma dentada a bite. | ||
Suffixes that make adjectives
From a noun or a verb to a quality — and from the quality to an adverb.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -oso | full of it; English -ous, -y | chuvoso, caloroso, perigoso, saboroso |
| Listen to the o before the ending: it is closed in perigoso and open in perigosa, perigosos and perigosas. No word shows that vowel change more often than this suffix. | ||
| -al | belonging to it, to do with it; English -al, -ly | semanal, pessoal, mundial, natural |
| The plural is -ais: pessoais, naturais. Gender changes nothing. As a noun, o pessoal is the staff. | ||
| -ável | can be done (on -ar verbs); English -able | lavável, amável, agradável, confortável |
| It sits on verbs in -ar, and the plural is -áveis. Amável is « kind » — nearer to English kind than to amiable. | ||
| -ível | can be done (on -er and -ir verbs); English -ible | visível, possível, legível, terrível |
| The same idea as -ável, on verbs in -er and -ir; the plural is -íveis. Mixing the two up will not stop anyone understanding you — English has the same pair in -able and -ible. | ||
| -mente | turns an adjective into an adverb; English -ly | certamente, calmamente, claramente, livremente |
| It is added to the feminine form: certo → certa → certamente. An adjective with no separate feminine takes it as it is: livremente. The written accent disappears on the way: rápido → rapidamente. | ||
Suffixes that set the tone
Small, big, friendly: the part of Portuguese English has least to compare with.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -inho | makes it small, friendly or “just a”; no real English match | livrinho, bonitinho, cafezinho, pouquinho |
| It hardly ever says that something is small. Um cafezinho is not a small coffee but a friendly one, and um pouquinho is « just a tiny bit ». The nearest English gets is a tone of voice, or the -ie of doggie, and that sounds childish where the Portuguese does not. Before the ending c becomes qu and g becomes gu: pouco → pouquinho, amigo → amiguinho. | ||
| -inha | the same, on feminine words | casinha, mesinha, portinha, florzinha |
| The ending keeps the gender of the word it is attached to, which is why it has its own line: a casa → a casinha, but o problema → o probleminha. If the word does not end in an unstressed vowel, a z slips in: flor → florzinha. | ||
| -ão | makes it big | portão, casarão, narigão, rapagão |
| The feminine is -ona. Often the result is simply a new word: o portão is a gate, not a big door — and it is masculine although a porta is feminine. And not every word in -ão is an augmentative: o pão and a mão are just words. | ||
| -zinho | the diminutive with a linking z | cafezinho, pãozinho, pezinho, solzinho |
| A word ending in a stressed vowel, a consonant or -ão takes a z before the ending, and any written accent goes: pé → pezinho, pão → pãozinho. In the plural both parts change: pães → pãezinhos. The feminine is -zinha and is listed under -inha: flor → florzinha, mão → mãozinha. | ||